World War II

[Idris2002]

My maternal grandad (was 30 when WW2 broke out, so we reckon my mum, an only child, must have been quite a surprise, having been in 1948) was a spark on aircraft carriers, and apparently if they did any wiring on planes they had to go up in them before they were commissioned to prove they weren't a saboteur.

And this applied to single seat aircraft did it?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Does anyone know what the penalties for conscription dodgers in the UK were like in WWII? I’m sure nowhere near as severe as they would have been during WWI, at any rate.

Quite an interesting summary of difference between FWW and SWW:

not sure.

i read this here book earlier in the year

Opposition to the Second World War

As Europe lurched towards war during the 1930s, many people in Britain, with the memories of the horrors of the First World War painfully fresh,…

www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

but it was more about conscientious objectors / peace campaigners rather than 'avoiders'.

aware that one of the strands in the growing underworld in the big cities during the 1939 war was people who had gone 'off the record' either to avoid conscription or deserted from the forces, so they either didn't have identification papers, or papers of dubious origin, so getting a formal job was not an option.

presume that it was a criminal offence just not to turn up when you got called up, and that military law would have handled desertion if you went missing after joining the services.

 

[Funky_monks]

And this applied to single seat aircraft did it?

I have no idea, I got the story second hand from my mum. I was born in 1980, he died 8 months later. He certainly couldn't fly an aeroplane. I have a feeling there were some 2 seat fighters in use in WW2 but I'm not really sure, and there would have been, I think other aircraft that had more than one seat - who knows.

 

[PTK]

And this applied to single seat aircraft did it?

They rode in a child seat on the back of the aircraft.

 

[Hollis]

I mean there was the Fairey Fulmar, but..

Fairey Fulmar - Wikipedia

 

[Elpenor]

Bristol Beaufighter also, plus a lot of training models would have had two seats as well

 

[Kaka Tim]

there was quite a range two seater aircraft -
Including the rather marvelous Mosquito -



and of course -